South Carolina AHEC Scholars Program Welcomes New Scholars

The South Carolina AHEC Scholars Program seeks to encourage and prepare tomorrow’s health professionals to become leaders in interprofessional, transformative practice for rural and underserved areas. The program, now in its second year, recently welcomed its latest Scholars with a statewide orientation. South Carolina AHEC Health Professions Student (HPS) coordinators from all four regional centers hosted the students in-person in Charleston and Columbia as well as online, using videoconference technology to connect the groups.

New Scholars in attendance highlighted the program’s interprofessional and inter-institutional focus: of the 18 students in attendance, they represented six professions (MD, nurse practitioner, PharmD, physical therapy, physician assistant, and social work) and two academic institutions (MUSC and UofSC).

Scholars were engaged and excited to be a part of the program. Katherine Olsen, a UofSC PharmD student elaborated: “I feel that the AHEC Scholars Program has been extremely influential during my time in pharmacy school. I have grown to have a further appreciation of other disciplines as well as help rural communities in South Carolina, which is one of my favorite aspects of the program!”

“We have been very pleased with our AHEC Scholars program,” explained Stephanie Flowers, Pee Dee AHEC HPS coordinator, “Our first two cohorts are a diverse, interprofessional group of students who are actively engaged in making an impact in rural primary care for our state. They have been working diligently while in the program and their energy is sure to empower them once in the field!”

To learn more about the South Carolina AHEC Scholar Program, please visit our website. In addition, find out more about regional HPS programming by contacting the regional HPS coordinators via their respective websites: Emily Warren and Kimbley Stephens at Lowcountry AHEC, Casey Cato and Julie Ghent at Mid-Carolina AHEC, Lance Butler and Stephanie Flower at Pee Dee AHEC and Tina Fulton at Upstate AHEC.

Marchek Siblings Stay Connected With Upstate AHEC Through Academic Journey

A pair of siblings from Greer are giving back to current Upstate AHEC Health Careers students after completing the program themselves. Alex Marchek, MD is in his first year as a family medicine resident at Prisma Health Seneca. His younger sister by two years, Anna Marchek, is a second-year medical student at Edward Via College of Medicine (VCOM) Carolinas. “My mom likes to say she did good,” Anna joked. “Both of her kids are going to be doctors. She went two-for-two.” Anna (left) and Alex (right) Marchek are pictured with Nita Donald, Executive Director of Upstate AHEC. While Alex and Anna have both chosen to pursue medicine as a career, their interest in healthcare developed differently. Alex describes his discovery of health sciences as a slow realization. “It was definitely something that was on my radar really young,” said Alex. “My parents will say when I was six years old, I was talking about doing something in medicine. I had some really great science teachers in elementar...

Simulation Training Prepares Students for Rural Primary Care

Since its inception in 2021, South Carolina AHEC’s Simulation Education Training (SET) has remained a favorite experience amongst health professions students statewide. Pee Dee AHEC Scholars and other health professions students pose for the camera during a simulation Since its inception in 2021, South Carolina AHEC’s Simulation Education Training (SET) has remained a favorite experience amongst health professions students statewide. SET uses simulation-based technology to expose students to clinical environments and scenarios that mirror what providers experience in rural, medically-underserved communities. “A lot of simulations are emergent or hospital-based and students are usually being graded as a formal assessment when they participate,” said SC AHEC Curriculum Coordinator Dawn Leberknight, who was heavily involved in the development of the initiative. “We tried to make [SET] more informal to expose students to simulations before it’s high stakes, and then to really focus on rura...

We've Got a New Logo

Today, South Carolina AHEC is unveiling a fresh new look – beginning with our logo and part of a broader update to how SC AHEC presents itself visually. We’re proud of the brand identity we’ve developed over the years and know many have come to recognize and are familiar with our organization as a result. So why change it? Simply put: it was time. First, our previous logo has been in place almost 10 years (since 2016). It served us and its purpose well, but over time things evolve naturally, and so have we. One of the biggest challenges all AHECs share in communicating who we are is our name. This has been an obstacle in explaining AHEC’s mission since the program was established and funded by Congress in 1972: What the heck even is an “AHEC”? Our name can be unclear, even when the acronym is fully spelled out: Area Heath Education Consortium. Looking at our last logo – someone unfamiliar with us would have no idea what it is we do or what our organization is about at first encoun...

South Carolina AHEC News & Updates

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